The House of Broken Angels, by Luis Alberto Urrea
Ever since I read The Hummingbird's Daughter years ago, Urrea has been one of my favorite authors. There are some people who are just born to write, and he is one of them; it doesn't matter the subject, or whether it's fiction or nonfiction. The Devil's Highway is a masterpiece of journalism, and no less exquisite than Into the Beautiful North, a novel. To this body of work is added now another novel, playful yet deeply moving, and so timely.
Big Angel, patriarch of his family, is dying. He's planned a massive 70th birthday party for himself, a last hurrah, and everyone is sure to be there, especially since his mother's funeral is just the day before. These two days encompass the entirety of the book, aside from one small flashback, but it's more than enough to become part of this complex immigrant family. Some are U.S. citizens, some are not, and all rest upon a thin no man's land between proudly Mexican and proudly American, and are often both at the same time.
Our secondary protagonist is Little Angel, a half-brother mothered by an American woman for whom their father left Big Angel's mother. There are more siblings, plus Big Angel's wife's family, which has become entwined with the De La Cruzes, and a bevy of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. We're privy to some inner thoughts of many of these characters, and even those small glimpses are enough to turn them into fully realized human beings. Their foibles are as known to us as our own relatives', and we root for many of them. I suppose you could say this is a book about the immigrant experience, but really it's just about people. And immigrants, after all, are people too.
Shop local!
Big Angel, patriarch of his family, is dying. He's planned a massive 70th birthday party for himself, a last hurrah, and everyone is sure to be there, especially since his mother's funeral is just the day before. These two days encompass the entirety of the book, aside from one small flashback, but it's more than enough to become part of this complex immigrant family. Some are U.S. citizens, some are not, and all rest upon a thin no man's land between proudly Mexican and proudly American, and are often both at the same time.
Our secondary protagonist is Little Angel, a half-brother mothered by an American woman for whom their father left Big Angel's mother. There are more siblings, plus Big Angel's wife's family, which has become entwined with the De La Cruzes, and a bevy of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. We're privy to some inner thoughts of many of these characters, and even those small glimpses are enough to turn them into fully realized human beings. Their foibles are as known to us as our own relatives', and we root for many of them. I suppose you could say this is a book about the immigrant experience, but really it's just about people. And immigrants, after all, are people too.
Shop local!
Comments
Post a Comment